Red Skies
by Lily Umbra
Summary: Lucy aka Red is not your ordinary girl. She loves pokémon and has wanted to be a pokémon researcher her whole life. Now that she is finally old enough to become Professor Oak's assistant, she's one step closer to her dream. An in-depth exploration of the pokémon world. Rated T for safety.


Standard disclaimers apply. This is written for fun not profit. It's my first story, and I had trouble with the formating, so I copied and pasted from word. This is planned as a long novel length story if I get enough support. Please read and review. :)

* * *

"Lucy," a woman shouted hoarsely. Something warm and soft nuzzled Lucy's cheek. "You're going to be late!"

Lucy rolled away from all the noise, and a sharp pain brushed her face. She opened her eyes blearily. Meowth was pined under her arm hissing. "Lucy," the woman shouted, obviously irritated.

"I'm up Mom." Lucy muttered. She released Meowth and rolled out of bed. "Sorry, I didn't mean to squish you buddy." Meowth glared at her indignantly from his newfound position in the corner. Lucy's room was stuffed with plush pokémon toys. A giant blue snorlax lay on the floor. Several bookshelves were filled with texts from Lucy's correspondence school. The walls were covered in drawings of pokémon. Lucy wasn't a natural artist. It took years of practice for her to learn to draw.

Lucy walked across the room, soft plush carpet squished under her feet. She pulled off her shirt, kicked her pants to the ground, and opened her closet. Her mother despaired her utilitarian "boys-ware." She tugged on some boy shorts and a sports bra. Loose black pants, a shirt and her favorite red jacket and hat followed. Daisy next door called Lucy a tomboy. Lucy put on her glasses and looked in the mirror. She looked like a pretty boy with her short red hair and minimal bust.

"Lucy!" Mom yelled. Mom would come upstairs soon if Lucy did not get up.

"I'm up," Lucy hollered. Lucy ran down the hall, down the stairs, and skidded to a stop in the kitchen. There was a sweet syrupy smell. "You made pancakes," she smiled at her mother.

"You didn't forget what today was?" Mom huffed. Mom rarely had time to cook. She was a teacher at school and a proponent of education. Mom wanted to increase the graduation age, so kids spent more years in school.

"Of course not, my memory's not that bad." Lucy replied. "I'm just nervous." Today was the first day she would be working at Professor Oak's laboratory as an assistant. Becoming a pokémon researcher was her dream.

"You don't look excited. My little baby, you've wanted to be a pokémon researcher since you could talk." Mom teased.

Lucy did want to be a pokémon researcher. She graduated from school at ten like the other children in Pallet, but her mother pushed her to continue studying. She studied under the directive of the Cinnabar Institute for the past eight years, receiving her texts by Pokémon Post. She graduated last month.

"I'm eighteen years old. I'm not a baby anymore Mom." Children as young as ten were treated as adults if they passed the trainer exam. Lucy took the exam at ten with the rest of her class, but didn't have a pokémon of her own, because her mother's meowth didn't get along with other pokémon.

"I know. You've grown up to be a fine young woman." Mom was serious now.

Lucy spotted the pokeball shaped clock. It was nearly time to leave. "I'm going to be late." She said.

"Eat your pancakes!" Mom ordered. "You won't be late if you hurry."

Lucy gobbled her pancakes. When she was younger, she would get crumbs all over her clothes when she ate. Her table manners were still poor, but Lucy didn't care if she was unladylike, as long as she didn't open her mouth when she chewed too much.

"Get your bag Lucy." Mom ordered

"Alright, bye Mom, bye Meowth." Lucy bolted. She ran out the door and down the street. Her feet slapped the pavement as she ran, past her friend Daisy's house then past the school she attended until she was ten years old. At ten, children were old enough to become pokémon trainers or start their career. With encouragement from her mother, Lucy chose to become a pokémon researcher. Today she'd be one step closer to realizing her dream. She was professor Oak's newest assistant.

* * *

Professor Oak's laboratory was a great white building built overlooking the sea. If you sailed south from the Little Pallet Cove you would reach Cinnabar island. There was a lab on Cinnabar island. As a young man, Professor Oak studied at the Cinnabar lab, and he still kept contact with his colleagues there. Lucy idolized Professor Oak before she met him. Oak was eccentric, but highly intelligent.

The Professor had several aides who worked with him in Pallet Town. Lucy had met them already. Most were indulgent of her and encouraged her interest in one day becoming a pokémon researcher. Not Scott, he was a stern bespectacled man who never smiled and always looked at Lucy as if she smelled.

"What do you mean he's not here?"

"Professor Oak is not in the lab." Scott drawled. He spoke very slowly. It made Lucy very tired to listen to him. "You are his new assistant. Retrieve him."

Lucy sighed. Scott wasn't going to let her stay unsupervised. "All right, I'll go find him." Lucy spun around "Daisy might know where the professor is." Daisy, named after a storybook princess, was Professor Oak's granddaughter and Lucy's friend. Daisy and Lucy didn't have a lot in common. Daisy was very feminine and Lucy very bookish, but by virtue of being the only girls close in age in a very small town they spent a lot of time together growing up.

As it turned out, Daisy did not know where here grandfather was. Daisy's house was on the fringes of town. Lucy stood outside Daisy's looking at the path leading out of town, Route One. The route, a dirt path, stretched past the horizon. "This is pointless. What could the professor be doing? He's supposed to be working." Lucy muttered. Talking to herself was a bad habit she was unable to break.

"Hey wait, don't go out!" a man shouted. "Wild pokémon live in tall grass!"

Lucy turned around. "I wasn't..." Lucy mumbled abashed. She wasn't stupid. It was too dangerous to leave town without having pokémon of her own to protect her. Wild pokémon, bandits and nature itself kept folks from traveling freely. The countryside beyond her hometown was too hazardous for Lucy to travel. She'd die if she left. Lucy wasn't unaware of that.

Lucy recognized the old man. He had a messy shock of snow white hair, a kind wrinkled face with deep smile lines, and wore an old white coat with prominent coffee stains. "Professor Oak, Scientist Scott told me to look for you."

"Lucy, my new assistant. You're Gary's friend?" Oak phrased his words in a questioning manner. He always seemed out of sorts to Lucy. Lucy herself often had her head in the clouds, as her mother put it, but Professor Oak made being a distracted intellectual an art form. Oak was brilliant. Maybe Lucy still idolized Oak, just a bit.

"Uh, we're not really close friends…" Lucy mumbled, She and Professor Oak's grandson Gary were more rivals than friends. Their competitiveness probably wasn't healthy. Gary was originally slated to get his first pokémon at ten, but when he found out Lucy was taking the Cinnabar Institute correspondence course, Gary decided to become a pokémon professor like his grandfather. Lucy called Gary "Blue", for his blue eyes, since they were kids, ever since Gary started calling her "Red," her favorite color and hair color.

"Come, come, follow me back to the lab." Oak interjected. He wasn't listening. He plowed on ahead energetically. Lucy followed Oak south through Pallet and back to the lab.

* * *

"Lucy, my new assistant…" Oak's voice echoed down the laboratory's halls. Professor Oak was an emoted speaker. He swung his arms, gesturing, as he talked. Scientist Marvin ducked under the professor's arm as Lucy and Oak passed. "Hmm, oh sorry Marvin. I didn't see you there…"

"Gramps! I'm fed up with waiting!" Professor Oak's grandson Gary interrupted.

"Hmm? Gary? Why are you here already? I said for you to come by later..." Professor Oak blinked. "Look, Lucy! Do you see that ball on the table. It's called a pokeball. It holds a pokémon inside. You may have it. Go on, Take it."

Lucy knew what pokeballs were. She learned about pokémon at school. Her trainer's license had been sitting on her nightstand, unused, for eight years. "That's really nice of you professor, but Mom's meowth doesn't get along with other pokémon."

"You need your own pokémon for your protection." Oak replied.

Maybe she could take the pokeball. Lucy always wanted a pokémon of her own. Her Mom left seedcakes for the local pidgeys. Lucy herself left peanut butter crackers for the rattata. Sometimes Lucy still had childish dreams of becoming a great pokémon master.

"Hey Gramps, what about me?" Gary interrupted her musings. It wouldn't be fair for Professor Oak to give her a pokémon and not give one to his own grandson.

"Be patient Gary. I'll give you one later." Oak replied.

Now, Lucy was nervous. "I thought I was just working in the lab? Why do I need a pokémon?" Lucy asked. Professor Oak did not answer. He was too busy talking to an irritated Blue.

Lucy looked at the red and white ball. It had a little emblem shaped like a lightning bolt. An electric type. Electric-type pokémon were popular among scientists for their ability to power machines. Lucy was not a confident person. She was nervous, but when she reached out to grab the pokeball, she felt a tingle of excitement. Her heart raced in her chest. Then Gary Pushed her to the side.

"No way Red, I want this pokémon." Gary cried. He lifted the pokeball off the table and held it aloft.

"Gary what are you doing?" Oak said.

"Gramps I want this one" Blue said. He was petulant. His teeth were busy mutilating his lip.

"But, I…Oh right then. That pokémon is yours." Oak replied. The professor was always quick to adapt.

"Lucy," Oak dug through several pockets in his white lab coat before he pulled out another pokeball. "This one's for you then."

Lucy eagerly grasped the pokeball. Her reflection stared back at her from the pokeball's shiny surface. Ball held in her right hand, she threw. The pokeball hit the ground like a stone, opened, and threw out a bright red light.

* * *

Who's that pokémon? I bet you'll never guess. Prove me wrong.

P.S. Feel free to leave reviews like "you missed a comma in X spot." I won't mind, fluff my review count.


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